Mike Ganci
  Founder of Mushindo Karate 
 
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Selected Biographies
 
Mas Oyama
Steve Arneil
Nick Cujic
Raymond Elmore
Mike Ganci
Miyuki Miura
Shigeru Oyama
Jim Phillips
Guy Salter
Jacques Sandulescu
Dan Soller
Doug Turnbull
Gary Viccars
Marc Walleghem
Hulon Willis
   
  Steve Arneil article

Michael Thomas Ganci was born in 1945 in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was introduced to the fighting arts by his father, who had been an amateur boxer, and began his karate instruction in his early teens at New York's Chinatown Dojo. This school, one of the first American Goju-kai style dojo, was run by Peter Urban, a pioneer in bringing the Japanese art of Gogen Yamaguchi across the waters. In 1967 Ganci moved from New York to Connecticut and was lucky in finding one of the few branch dojo of the Kyokushin that existed at that time.

The Goju and Kyokushin styles were similar and Mas Oyama had an affiliation with Yamaguchi early in his career. This school was run by Ralph Gigliotti, an early sponsor of Mas Oyama's U.S. promotional and training missions. His son, Michael, was the youngest American Kyokushin black belt, and had appeared with the founder on the Tonight Show, and in other promotional outings.

Ganci continued his training here and in 1969 was awarded the Shodan by Tadashi Nakamura and Shigeru Oyama, at the time the two highest ranking U.S. based Kyokushin yudansha. After having continued training and advancement under these Shihan and from the Sosai himself, Ganci was granted Branch Chief instructor's status and began teaching in satellite programs throughout Connecticut, and as of this writing, operates one of the longest continual programs of karate instruction in the Northeastern U.S.

He pioneered one of the first accredited college level courses in traditonal karate in the U.S. About the same time as the departure of Nakamura who formed the Seido School and Shigeru Oyama who formed the U.S. Oyama School, Ganci, too, withdrew from the Kyokushin to form the Mushin School.

This school is affiliated with Japan's Renmei-Budo Kai, the International Martial Arts Federation, a prestigious and conservative group overseen by some of Japan's foremost martial arts meijin. Through this affiliation, the Mushin accepts and certifies many people from a wide range of traditional martial arts backgrounds. He estimates that about 10,000 people have received some training directly under him. In addition to his karate, Ganci holds advanced degrees in education and has been a teacher as well as a multimedia consultant and developer.

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